29 pages • 58 minutes read
Woodrow WilsonFourteen Points
Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | AdultA modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Historical Context: World War I
Wilson’s speech is a response to the approaching conclusion of World War I. The war began in 1914 and, at the time of Wilson’s speech, had been waged for more than three bloody years. On one side were the Allied Powers of Britain, France, Italy, Russia, and many smaller nations. On the other were the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire. The nations that started the war did so for a mixture of national pride, desire for land, and loyalty to alliances (some of which were public and others secret). After millions of casualties and little progress on most fronts, the public mood was bitter across Europe. Most were sick of war but also craved a peace that justified such tremendous sacrifices. They felt the other side had to be punished and one’s nation had to gain something of value—otherwise the war had no meaning.
The US only entered the war in April 1917, less than a year before Wilson’s speech. It declared war on Germany after German submarines (U-boats) sank American civilian ships transporting supplies to the Allied Powers. The US had lost few men by the end of 1917 and lacked the territorial ambition that characterized other participants. This meant that Americans brought a fresh perspective to the war. America also brought fresh manpower and vast industries that promised to revitalize the Allied war effort, giving the US much influence.
Despite the hope that the US could bring victory, the Allied side faced a crisis that threatened defeat before the US military was ready to fight. Russia practically collapsed. Its soldiers had given up and started walking home. Two revolutions within a year had first overthrown the old ruler (Tsar Nicholas II) and then created the world’s first communist government led by Vladimir Lenin and his Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks began negotiating Russia’s surrender to the Central Powers a month before Wilson’s speech. If the Russians surrendered, then Germany would be able to concentrate its armies in the west and try to quickly knock out its remaining European opponents to win the war. If Russia somehow kept on, or if the French and British could hold off the German attackers until US support arrived, then the Allied Powers would almost surely triumph. The end of the war was in sight, but the questions of who would win and whose vision of the postwar order would triumph remained very much in doubt.
Ideological Context: Imperialism, Nationalism, Communism, and Liberalism
World War I came in part as the natural climax of 19th-century political ideologies: imperialism, nationalism, communism, and liberalism. Imperialism usually meant controlling other ethnic groups. Nations on both sides of the war (such as Britain and Germany) fought in part over control of their overseas empires in Africa and Asia. Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans did not have overseas colonies but did have old empires that controlled territory in Europe and the Middle East. An uneasy patchwork of many different ethnic groups made up these empires.
Nationalism meant both having pride in one’s nation and believing that each ethnic group should have its own nation. World War I began when a nationalist Bosnian Serbian living in the Austro-Hungarian Empire assassinated the emperor’s heir to protest the imperial control of his home. Other nationalist groups in these empires also wanted independence. Many of these groups believed that they had the right or even duty to fight for self-rule.
Communism was a radical new ideology. Communism taught that traditional governments (including colonial empires) existed to allow the rich to exploit the poor. Communists called for a government led by a single party representing the workers. The communist government would own all factories and businesses so it could run them on behalf of the common people and make sure wealth was distributed equally. In 1917, Lenin’s Bolshevik Revolution created the world’s first communist government in Russia.
Liberalism received its name because it prioritized liberty. The 19th-century version championed people’s rights versus government interference, though Progressives had shifted that position. They argued that sometimes the government did need to intervene to protect the average person from the powerful. Liberals’ idea of freedom included “free trade” (which means the right to buy and sell goods without penalty or barriers). Liberalism conflicted with imperialism since liberalism suggested that colonial subjects had rights. However, many liberals in the US, including Wilson, favored racial segregation.
Wilson’s speech tries to chart a path between these currents. He condemns the ideology of imperialism, endorses elements of nationalism, cautiously withholds judgment on communism, and proposes a revamped liberal agenda for international relations that includes the belief that sometimes government authority is needed to protect the weak.
